Life Is Set and Setting
It’s not just a hack for a good psychedelic trip
Set and setting. These are two words we’ve heard tossed around incessantly regarding the quality of a psychedelic experience. It’s true. Our mindset and the space our body is in while under the influence of hallucinogens, like psilocybin and LSD, are two factors that condition a good or “bad” trip. It’s important to be intentional about who we trip with, where we trip, and to be aware of what the state of our emotional regulation is before we trip.
But commonly ignored is the obvious fact that set and setting, along with the who, where, and what of it all, are also essential pillars for simply living a good life.
As we launch The Macro — a new publication exploring the psychedelic experience, integrating learned lessons, and growing community connections — I wanted to dig into this topic discussed, ad nauseum, in just about every conversation about psychedelics.
Psychedelics are not separate from day-to-day life. When we’re tripping, it is a day, and we are alive. Life, in fact, is a trip. We are experiencing a hallucination shaped by human senses, which are distinct from other organisms’ sensory capabilities, and even unique for individuals within our own complicated species.
Most advice for having a good trip on psychedelics is applicable to daily life, and our lives are easily transformed by understanding the power of mindset as well as the physical setting that nurtures mind and body.
If the intention behind using psychedelics is to come back down to earth with new realizations that can serve as catalysts to positively transform our humanity, let’s begin with this simple recognition that our quality of life is dependent on set and setting.
A movie is most enjoyable on a big screen in a darkened room (setting) alongside a quiet, attentive audience (mind set). Turn on the lights halfway through, turn off the Dolby surround sound, turn up the conversations, and the experience we just paid $20 for is completely ruined.
At least in that situation there is a manager available and we can demand our money back. But failure to cultivate a conducive set and setting in our daily life at home and at work leads to misery, and there are no refunds available. The day is done, the happenings are in the rear view, and it’s a lousy feeling for our precious time to have been wasted. Kind of a bad trip, if you will.
Tomorrow, however, is always another opportunity to begin again; to transmute habitual misery into newfound happiness through recognizing the issues bringing us down, and then adjusting our set and setting to rise up.
Every Thing Is Relative, Interdependent and Conditional
This is one of the greatest realizations shared with mankind from one of history’s most famous teachers: Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha.
A place. A person. An object. A thought. A concept. An idea. Any and every thing is a product of the conditions that surround it, relative in appearance (and usefulness) to what is looking, and dependent on the environment to exist. As humans continue to be our own worst enemy by destroying the natural conditions that facilitate our very breathing, it is increasingly important we integrate this 2500-year-old wisdom into our daily lives.
If we want to change our lives, we can change the conditions that are governing them, which include mindset and physical setting. We can’t change the whole wide world at the flip of a switch, but we can flip our personal perspective to change our thoughts and behavior. Psychedelics can help with that. So can reading good books, having meaningful conversations with good people, watching good television and movies, and making good contributions to our local community. (Volunteering to serve others is one helluva drug!)
Who do we want to be, and who do we want to be around? Where do we want to go? What do we want to do? These are a few important questions we can ask ourselves again and again to build a healthier mindset and setting to live in, thereby transforming our inner and outer space to empower our ability to hold transformative space for others.
Integration — another psychedelic buzzword I’m dropping repeatedly — is actually everywhere. And it is an essential practice, with or without the use of mind altering substances, to live a more fulfilling life.
A heroic dose of magic mushrooms in the desert may be the catalyst someone needs to turn their life around, but that hero will have to return home and live by the lessons learned from the journey in order to have truly gained something from the adventure.
Don’t wait for a big psychedelic trip to appreciate the value of set and setting. Every day can be a heroic dose of priceless experience if we approach each waking cycle with reverence and intention.
I believe humans are all potential energy at our core, and we’re on a trip designed to maximize that potential, personally and collectively. So, with that all being said, I invite you to subscribe to The Macro, where we’ll explore integration opportunities that are, in fact, everywhere we look, providing we’re willing to recognize them.
Either way, have a good trip, my friends, and enjoy the rest of the ride from here to eternity.
